Jacoby Ellsbury will be absent for the start of Yankees spring training because of a plantar fasciitis issue.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said during his first camp press conference of 2019 that Ellsbury, 35, won't join the team until mid-March because the outfielder developed plantar fasciitis while rehabbing from the hip surgery he had in August, The Athletic reported.

Boone indicated Ellsbury's absence to start camp has nothing to do with his hip, but the plantar fasciitis has kept him from resuming baseball activities. He remains home in Arizona.

"We feel like he’s making really good progress, but he’ll stay (home) in Arizona for at least the next couple of weeks,'' Boone told reporters, per the Bergen (N.J.) Record.

Ellsbury underwent surgery in August to repair a torn labrum in his left hip and initially was given a six-month timetable to return. He missed all of 2018 with multiple injuries after batting .264 with seven home runs and 39 RBIs in 2017.

After signing a seven-year, $153 million contract in December 2013, he has rarely lived up to that contract. Ellsbury has slashed .264/.330/.386 with the Yankees and now finds himself part of a crowded New York outfield, where he'll struggle to find playing time among Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Clint Frazier.